MOUNTAIN BIKING
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EMILY Parkes will be flying down Mt Borah this weekend, although she won’t be leaving the ground for too long, as the mountain biker competes in the inaugural Vertigo Horizon Gravity Enduro just weeks after she placed in the top ten at the World Championships in Andorra.
The Australian U23 short course champion will join over 60 other competitors as they tackle the new downhill tracks at the world class hang gliding venue today and tomorrow.
As the name and venue suggests the Gravity Enduro involves a lot of steep downhill racing, although that is the way Parkes likes it.
“The steeper the better,” Parkes said.
“Get your fingers off the brakes and have a good time.”
The first two of the three stage event will be just that, the cyclists will be shuttled to the top of the mountain and pointed down two different 3.5km tracks.
Switchback Events manager Liam Benson said the riders will only take three or four minutes to hit the finish line.
“There is some very good downhill riders coming,” Benson said.
“On the Sunday though Em (Parkes) will fly past them.”
On Sunday the third stage will also involve the riders riding to the top of the hill before heading down in an eight kilometre loop.
“She flies uphills,” Benson said.
For Parkes she is hoping to be able to not only beat the other girls but also a few of the boys.
“I have never ridden out there before but from the footage I have seen it looks really good,” Parkes said.
“Hopefully I can knock a few of the big boys off as well.”
The 19 year old only started competing in 2011, after her father took her to see a race in hometown Coffs Harbour, and most of the family found their passion.
“My sister got away from it there and then but Dad, Mum and I are still stuck in cycling,” Parkes said. After riding and racing through Europe in the lead up to the World Championships, the flyer has returned home and to her new base in cycle crazy Canberra, where she recently signed up with the ACT Academy of Sports.
“The National Series starts in November and the Oceania and Australian Championships start in March after that,” Parkes said.
Parkes will return to Tamworth in December for the third Keepit Real Enduro race at Keepit Dam.
She will also be a special guest at Australia’s first Women in Cycling Forum to be held on the Friday night before the race. The Gravity Enduro will kick off this morning with practice rides, before stage one begins at 1pm.